Yellow pages contract worth $900m

Quebecor World and Yellow Book USA have announced the signing of a multi-year contract for the printing of Yellow Book`s yellow pages directories, the Ottawa Sun reports.

The agreement is believed to be one of the largest ever signed between a printer and directory publisher.

The contract, which runs to 2017, is estimated to be worth $900 million over its term and will involve the printing of more than a trillion pages on paper containing recycled content.

A printing broker from Charles County, US, has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution on fraud charges related to a kickback scheme, said US attorney Catherine Hanaway.

Aristotle Kumpis, 52, of Wentzville, was sentenced to five months in prison followed by five months of home confinement and three years of supervised release, the St Louis Business Journal reported. In addition, he must pay restitution of $251 009.

From January 2001 to May 2004, Elizabeth Drago was the printing manager of the American Optometric Association (AOA). Between September 2001 and April 2004, AOA paid Kumpis about $300 000 for printing purportedly provided by AJK images, a company Kumpis started.

There is to be a major shake-up of the rules governing the printing of Northern Ireland banknotes, which could cost the four local banks around lb25 million a year, reports the BBC.

English banks buy their notes from the Bank of England, by keeping an equivalent amount of cash on deposit.

The local banks, however, avoid making these cash deposits several days a week, saving them lb25 million a year.

The Treasury is consulting on proposed changes and said it wants all the banks on the same footing competitively.

It also said it wants to be sure that should one of the local banks go out of business, that the public can get their notes redeemed.